A great need exists for the development of new medications to treat pain resulting from various disease states and types of injury. Given that the endogenous cannabinoid (that is, endocannabinoid) system modulates neuronal and immune cell function, both of which play key roles in pain, therapeutics targeting this system hold promise as novel analgesics. Here we examine the preclinical and clinical evidence of various endocannabinoid system targets as potential therapeutic strategies for inflammatory and neuropathic pain conditions.

Cannabinoids from cannabis (Cannabis sativa) are anti-inflammatory and have inhibitory effects on the proliferation of a number of tumorigenic cell lines, some of which are mediated via cannabinoid receptors. Cannabinoid (CB) receptors are present in human skin and anandamide, an endogenous CB receptor ligand, inhibits epidermal keratinocyte differentiation. Psoriasis is an inflammatory disease also characterised in part by epidermal keratinocyte hyper-proliferation.

In patients with cancer, the use of medical cannabis has increased significantly during the recent years. There is evidence that cannabis consumption may affect cognitive performance; however, this potential effect has not been investigated prospectively in patients with cancer to date. We aimed to evaluate the effect of cannabis consumption on cognitive abilities as well as on symptom relief in patients with cancer during chemotherapy treatment. These preliminary findings suggest that the short-term use of cannabis during chemotherapy treatment improved disease-related symptoms and did not affect cognitive skills in patients with cancer.

Cannabis sativa is also popularly known as marijuana. It has been cultivated and used by man for recreational and medicinal purposes since many centuries. Study of cannabinoids was at bay for very long time and its therapeutic value could not be adequately harnessed due to its legal status as proscribed drug in most of the countries. The research of drugs acting on endocannabinoid system has seen many ups and downs in the recent past. Presently, it is known that endocannabinoids has role in pathology of many disorders and they also serve “protective role” in many medical conditions. Several diseases like emesis, pain, inflammation, multiple sclerosis, anorexia, epilepsy, glaucoma, schizophrenia, cardiovascular disorders, cancer, obesity, metabolic syndrome related diseases, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease and Tourette’s syndrome could possibly be treated by drugs modulating endocannabinoid system.

The endocannabinoid system is a complex and nearly ubiquitous network of endogenous ligands, enzymes, and receptors that can also be stimulated by exogenous compounds such as those derived from the marijuana plant, Cannabis sativa. Recent data have shown that the endocannabinoid system is fully functional in the skin and is responsible for maintaining many aspects of skin homeostasis, such as proliferation, differentiation, and release of inflammatory mediators.